magnolia electric co. heads out on the road today for a two week tour with ladyhawk. and if those two bands aren’t reason enough to stay out late, i’ll give you two more reasons. the band also have copies of the new album “fading trails” and the new jason molina solo record “let me go let me go let me go” for sale on the tour…

if you haven’t been fast enough to hear the new tracks that have been appearing briefly over at the mec myspace page, you’ll be happy to know that there are now mp3s from both “fading trails” and “let me go, let me go, let me go” available. check out the media section for a link to jason molina’s “get out, get out, get out” and magnolia electric co.’s “lonesome valley”.

like chocolate and peanut butter (or maybe disney and pixar) magnoliaelectricco.com and songsohia.com have come together to form the perfect snack… err site. more content, more regular updates, more magnolia and more molina…

coming september 12th on secretly canadian is yet another new magnolia release entitled “fading trails”. it’ll be composed of various recent recording sessions jason molina and company (both familiar and new) did with steve albini, david lowery and at the famous sun studios in memphis, tennessee… most interesting of all, it will also feature the demos from the lost shohola album.

a few more details about the new jason molina solo album “let me go, let me go, let me go” due out august 22nd on secretly canadian. it will be released lp-only in the same fashion as the previous solo album “pyramid electric co.”, with all that statement entails (*wink*)… a short piece from jason describing the album is also online…

the master for the new jason molina solo album, “let me go, let me go, let me go” was approved earlier this week and secretly canadian is currently aiming for a july 2006 release date.

when magnolia electric co. passed through chapel hill last month, jason swung by and recorded acoustic versions of three brand new songs for the internet radio site no love for ned (who happens to also host songsohia.com)… it just went up as part of the four-year anniversary show (04-24-06) and jason’s set starts the second hour. the setlist: talk to me devil, again / memphis moon / good luck follows bad follows none

no release date has been set, but a tracklist is now available for the upcoming magnolia electric co. album “nashville moon” recorded by steve albini. featuring twelve tracks and clocking in at about 45 minutes, it looks something like this: lonesome valley / montgomery bound / don’t fade on me / hammer down / no moon on the water / nashville moon / what comes after the blues / north star / don’t this look like the dark / bowery / texas 71 / down the wrong road both ways

on a day off in memphis last month, magnolia electric co. stopped by the legendary sun studios to record a trio of new tracks and a new version of “hold on magnolia”… it could potentially become an ep (with a magnolia’d sun-style label) but there are no firm plans at the moment. it was just the five-piece touring band for the session - jason molina (guitar, vox), jason groth (guitar, backing vox), michael kapinus (keys, trumpet), pete schreiner (bass) and mark rice (drums)…

so the new molina solo album didn’t quite make it to the band in time for the tour… it should hopefully be available from secretly canadian later this spring. the summer tour is coming together and there should be another eastern u.s. tour in the fall… i even heard a rumor of a solo show pencilled in for new zealand, although there aren’t any firm plans yet.

just got notice of a solo london show on april 5th, details on the tour page… the tour page also has the potential routing for a west coast tour this summer.

jason molina will play a solo set on april 8th in sevilla, spain as part of the southpop festival. this is a one-off show and not part of a larger tour (as far as i know!).

the next magnolia electric co. album is due for release this fall, tentatively september 2006, on secretly canadian. it was recorded in chicago by steve albini and features many of the magnolia players that we’ve come to know and love.

jason molina’s second solo album, “let me go, let me go, let me go”, should be available on the upcoming us tour with a full release to follow. recorded in bloomington with jim zespy, it’ll have these nine tracks: it’s easier now / everything should try again / alone with the owl / don’t it look like the rain / some things never try / it must be raining there forever / get out, get out, get out / it costs you nothing / let me go, let me go, let me go

no word on a release date, but the album recorded this past fall in virginia with david lowery is expected to come out under the magnolia electric co. moniker with a tentative title of “the black ram”… despite bearing the mec name, the album features all guest musicians (details to come!).

the chicago reader revealed some more details about upcoming releases in an article yesterday. a new solo album, tentatively titled “let me go”, should be released first. recorded last february in indiana, it returns to the sparse piano/guitar arrangements of “pyramid electric co.”. the new magnolia electric co. lp “nashville moon” is also complete, save for mixing. it was recorded last july with steve albini at electrical audio. the article also mentioned that jason will return to virginia to finish the collaboration with david lowery in february.

according to the mec myspace page, jason molina will be curating monday night shows at schuba’s (in chicago) this coming february. he’ll play a solo set and also pick other bands and songwriters to fill out the slots!

pitchfork had a news update today about the art show jason molina will be taking part in at brooklyn’s fire proof press (NOTE: he will no longer be performing). buried at the bottom was news about upcoming collaborations indicating that he had finished work on a full length with david lowery of camper van beethoven and cracker and he’s hoping to put together a colloborative project with chicago musicians (his wishlist includes sally timms of the mekons, jeff tweedy of wilco, and danny black of the blacks).

many might know that magnolia electric co. has had a myspace page for a month or two now… but as of today there are three tracks from the new ep available to stream there, for those who haven’t already hopped on that (ps - it’s in your local record store as of today)…

the impending hurricane rita has led to the cancellation of all remaining texas dates (that’d be mcallen and houston)… the new orleans show on sunday was cancelled awhile back due to hurricane katrina…